August is traditionally the silly season in Europe and so we are instituting a month of food quizzes to get in the spirit of things! How does it work? Each Friday, we will post ten questions on food. You send your answers to toomanychefs@gmail.com. From the correct answers received in the first 24 hours after posting, we will randomly choose a WINNER to receive one cheap food-related prize. (Trinkets, fridge magnets in the shape of baguettes, you get the idea: we will try not to get you into trouble with the Department of Agriculture by sending snails or the like.)

We will be posting this quiz each Friday during the month of August, partly because I can write them up in advance to cover the period while I’m on holiday (yay!!) and also to see how much interest there is out there for this kind of a feature. If you like the idea, show us by participating! If it’s kind of popular, we’ll continue on a monthly basis. If you make our hit rate go through the roof, we promise to continue on a weekly basis. It’s all up to you.

The Rules

1) Send your answers to toomanychefs@gmail.com. If you send the answers to any other email address, they don’t count.

2) Please do not post the answers in the comments or we will have to hire someone to come to your house and discuss manners with you.

3) You can look up some of the answers on the web, but we will think you are wimps if you do – it’s between you and your greedy conscience. The prizes are cheesy enough that we hope you will enter this contest for the sheer fun of it rather out of an obsessive competitive urge.

4) We are always right. If you think we are wrong, you can tell us in the comments (obviously after the quiz is over and our answers have been published). We will then give tell you in no uncertain terms why YOU are wrong. Or grovel, it depends. Either way, the our decision in awarding the prize is final.

5) What happens if - unthinkable - we stump you all and not a single person gets all the answers? Well, in that case we will probably award the prize based on the funniest wrong answer. Bear this in mind when answering.

6) The right answers will be posted one week after the quiz. We will announce the winners of ALL the quizzes (and send out the cheesy prizes) at the end of the month of August, when I get back from the south of France and Spain. If you want us to publish a pseudonym rather than your real name, please supply us with said fake name and your geographical location, e.g. “Snuggums, from Bangor, Maine”. If you want us to plug your web site at the same time, grovel. We’ll consider it.

And so, without further ado, please find below the First Friday Foodie Quiz. Good luck!

1. What was the theme of the first-ever Is My Blog Burning? event?

2. Royal Ann, Morello, Lambert and Richmond are all varieties of which fruit?

3. The definition is: French for “miller’s wife” (or "female miller"), referring to a style of cooking whereby a food is seasoned, lightly dusted with four and sautéed simply in butter. Such a preparation is served with…beurre noisette flavored with lemon juice and parsley. What is the cooking term?

4. Italian Pecorino cheese is made from what kind of milk?

5. Born April 1, 1775 and died February 2, 1826, this French lawyer, magistrate, and politician wrote one of the most celebrated works on food. Who is he?

6. If your recipe calls for baking powder and you do not have any in your kitchen, what other two ingredients can you combine to make some?

7. What is the most poisonous funghi (measured in number of fatalities caused)?

8. 19th century British sailors were issued with limes and lime juice to prevent which disease?